


Golden Girl

by VintageGoddess (TaleFairy)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 17:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21413671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaleFairy/pseuds/VintageGoddess
Summary: Shira has never seen Panem, yet she knew it was her home.When she was only a baby, her parents decided it would be safer for her to grow up far away from the nation that murdered her grandfather, disgraced President Coriolanus Snow, so, with the help of Mikaela, the cousin she doesn't even remember, Shira and her parents fled to Forazon, a poor country on the other side of the sea.However, she's about to discover a harsh truth, no one can hide forever... and the place she's always dreamed of calling home might be her new prison.
Relationships: Capitol Citizens/Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark/Finnick Odair, Haymitch Abernathy/Effie Trinket, Katniss & Peeta's Children/Original Female Character(s), Katniss Everdeen & Gale Hawthorne & Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen & Mrs. Everdeen, Katniss Everdeen/Katniss & Peeta's Children/Peeta Mellark
Kudos: 5
Collections: Best of the Hunger Games Collection, Random Hunger Game Stories





	Golden Girl

"_The years following Panem's liberation from the tyrannical President Snow are now known as **The Transition**, a period which lasted ten years and saw the reshaping of Panem's society, making sure the once divided classes and districts now worked harmoniously towards a better future. _

_Nowadays, everything the world once knew of Panem had changed. Their flag, their coat of arms, their government, even their contact with the outside world went from absolutely quiet to somewhat outspoken. The great nation no longer enslaved their poor into providing for the Capitol, instead, the Districts, while still slightly maintaining their core identities and means of production, were given a much more relaxed work life; however, with that, came the need of Panem, the once self-sufficient nation, to outsource and begin its contact with the nations beyond its frontiers. _

_ Outside Panem, the horrors and atrocities the Snow family put their people under were known worldwide, but with the dismembering of the UN roughly 120 years prior to the 1st Hunger Games, right after the Great 3rd War, the newly formed Council of the Untouched couldn't do much for a nation which refused to join their organization. _

_ However, since the September Revolutionary Wars, the battle which celebrates its 10th anniversary next month, Panem's self-proclaimed President at the time, Alma Coin, had begun the proposal that the nation joined the Council of the Untouched, which was later made a reality by her successor after her tragic early death, President Paylor._

_ Since then, Panem has not only been an important member of the Council but a great business partner to many glorious nations, including our very own, Vincit-"_

"You, there, what in the hell do you think you're doing?" I hear a guard coming my way and quickly stuff the book under my jumper, my eyes drifting back to my work. 

I can hear his footsteps approaching me, but I dare not look up, for Lord only knows the trouble I'll be in for looking at a Lega without being told to. He stands before me, my eyes still in the dirty soil and garbage in front of me. He takes his baton and I get ready for my punishment, but he simply places it under my chin and lifts it, I close my eyes. 

"I demand you look at me." He says with a serene voice, this was nothing out of the ordinary in his job. I open my eyes and face him, the visor made it somewhat difficult to see his face but I could definitely see the silhouette of a well-fed chubby face beneath his cover. I wait until he continues before opening my mouth, he does. "What did you have there?"

"Nothing, sir. I was just doing my job, sir." I tell, hoping he won't ask for a full-body search. Having only undergone one of those in the past and having been found not guilty, I find it unlikely, yet the way he holds my chin up tells me he'd make me do it just for his own enjoyment. 

He hangs his baton back into his uniform and I let my chin fall back down. "Who are you?"

"Number 148-5, sir." I tell him, hearing the familiar sound of the inbuilt system of his suit being turned on. On the ground, I see the shadow produced by the projection of his keyboard and assume he is typing some numbers, as he finishes, he simply walks away. 

I look up at the grey wall far away from me, I try to make up what the numbers say, but due to poor vision, I cannot. With the sun near setting, however, I am able to have a vague idea of the time and conclude it must be near the end of my shift. I am proven correct when a siren plays and the Day Workers are told to leave to make way for the Night Shifters, so I follow my colleagues into the changing station and stand in line for my turn. 

"What happened back there?" I hear as I sense someone standing behind me, judging by the voice I assume it to be Aisha, one of my coworkers and someone I'd like to call a friend, maybe. 

I shake my head. "Nothing too extreme, he thought I was stealing." I turn to face the voice and find myself being right as I spot Aisha's dark blonde hair in a tight low bun. 

"Were you?" She asks, ripping the band off her bun and letting her hair fall as the line moves forward, a shadow of a smile plays in the corners of her mouth. 

I decide not to answer and take a few steps forward as the line continues to move. "Where were you stationed today?" I lean against the wall, mimicking her as I have found people feel more comfortable around those who are similar to them. 

"Cleaning." She states proudly, playing with her hairband. 

I let out a groan. "Lucky. I think I'm gonna be stuck in the Dump for the rest of my days."

She allows her smile to fully emerge. "You don't have to be. I could see you from my station, that Lega didn't seem so harsh, maybe he took a liking to you." She nudges my shoulder. "If you were nice to him, I'm sure he'd put on a good word for you and you could join me! No dirt, no batons, air-conditioned air..."

The idea doesn't sound all that bad, plus I know for a fact Aisha isn't the only one to have found her way out of the Dump. Hayden, a common friend of ours, was lucky enough to not only be moved all the way up to Packaging a few months after he begun his affair with a high-class Legatus, but also managed to marry him. "I'll think about it. Honestly, I don't even need to be moved to Cleaning, Separation would be enough for me." 

We finally manage to enter the building and I walk straight to my locker, watching as Aisha does the same. I move to one of the closed shower cabins and quickly stuff the book into my backpack before stripping off my uniform and washing the dirt off my body and throwing some water on the clumps of my curly hair, some of the dirt washing off. I hear the familiar sound that marks the end of my shower and quickly gather my things and wrap around my towel to leave the cabin, giving place for another worker to get in. 

I rush to one of the mirrors to find Aisha desperately trying to get some dirt off her own hair. "Still clumpy?"

She nods, not turning to face me. "Unfortunately, but it is only my first day in Cleaning, I'm sure it'll be clean next week and I'll never have to struggle with this bullshit again. I don't know how you deal with it." 

"That's why I cut, it's better to manage." I simply answer, throwing some water on my face from the sink before looking at myself in the mirror, it is almost time to cut my hair again, the length about 10cm from my shoulders. 

"You're so lucky your hair grows so fast, mine took ages to reach my shoulders." 

I smile. "I'll trade my blessing for yours." 

"Harrison truly is a blessing, isn't he?" Her cheeks heat up. 

I nod, preferring to agree with her over discussing how dangerous their relationship could turn out to be. After Hayden, all workers began their Cinderella-like dream that a Lega will just fall for them, and, honestly, all of us need to dream sometimes. I offer to help her with her hair and position myself behind her, taking the comb and working on her hair. 

"A bunch of us are going to the Sinkhole later, you should come. Harrison and I are going, I bet the new guy will be there as well!" 

"I need to pick up the kids..." I state, making her eyes sadden. "I'll try to make it, but I can't promise anything, thank you for inviting me, anyway."

After I'm done with Aisha's hair, I say my goodbye's to her and some of the other workers and make my way to the train station.

I enter and quickly find a place to sit, near an old lady covered in fur and jewellery. I can't imagine what someone like her must be doing near this side of the country, since even our nicest buildings wouldn't be enough to accommodate her, but I decide to ignore that thought and open my book, noticing her discomfort as she shifts slightly only to look relieved as I retrieve my latest finding: _Panem, Country of Silence and Death,_ which seems to have been published almost 12 years ago, meaning I must've been celebrating my 7th birthday. I smile, the memories I have of being an only child still foggy. A couple of years after that, my mother would be giving birth to Suzanne, then Mikael came three years later, the same year mother passed away. I don't reopen the book yet, instead running my fingers through the hardcover and feeling the dirt sparkle off, I'm sure she would've loved that book, even if some of the memories might cause her pain, for as she used to say,_ it is pain, but at least you're feeling something, that means you're alive. _


End file.
